Last night in a haze of fever (Sunday was a rough day), I lay on the couch reading August a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible. It was a retelling of Jesus’ Parable of the Hidden Treasure. After Jesus compares God’s Kingdom to a great treasure worth selling all you own to pursue, Sally Loyd-Jones reminds us that God also gave everything he had (his son) to pursue his treasure (us). I read those words to August and whispered, “You... Read more
The great thing about the first few weeks after delivering a child is that no one in the world expects anything of you. In fact, people are shocked if they see you out. No one in line at Starbucks wants to be told that your kid is 5 days old. It makes them uncomfortable. (Even if you explain that you have to buy a latte in order to get your parking validated because there were no spots at the pediatrician’s... Read more
Molly Strader Hunt is one of my very favorite people in the whole world. I spent an entire year of my twenties singing the three karaoke songs we owned (in our post-college apartment) to her every night. (We didn’t have many friends that year.) She is charming, passionate and one of the funniest women I’ve ever known. Who better to write our guest Thankful Tuesday post this week? Thank you, Molly! * * * Here is the truth, I have... Read more
Friends, thank you for all of the notes and wishes this past week as we welcomed baby Brooks to our family. I am exhausted and happy and full of thankfulness. I’m also not in my most creative state. So I’ve asked my friend Amanda Fleming Kolman to guest post for us today. This past summer, Amanda wrote one of Mama:Monk’s most-read posts of all time about her family and their experience with adoption. (If you haven’t yet read it, I... Read more
Hey, Mama:Monk fans. This is Jason (Micha’s brother). She and husband are currently enjoying the blissful aftermath of the birth of little T-Rexy, who entered the world this morning at 8:40 am in San Francisco. He weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz and is 20.5 inches long. His real name is Brooks Andrew. Everyone is happy and healthy. Thanks for reading, praying, and thinking about Mama:Monk. I expect she’ll be back here soon, but will probably need a few days off.... Read more
Anna Maria Is Coming, or Maybe Thomas Barton, or Max! by Hilda Raz New life! Will he toe out like Dolly, like John? Will her eyes be fires? Blue and green, like Papa’s, the ocean at the shore? Will she sing in the bath? Play piano in her diapers? Will her heart leap at large machinery? Will he say, “Dribe dribe,” to his daddy, entering the tunnel? Will his hair be red? Will her hair curl? Will her little face... Read more
Last Wednesday night, as I entered the church nursery where August had been playing while I was in the Ash Wednesday service, my son looked up at me, first in joy (I love how the simplicity of my presence brings him happiness) and then in confusion. The ashes on my head were anything but subtle. I’d been toward the end of the line of a few hundred souls who’d been marked before me. Lots of forehead grease had given the... Read more
Friends, I know I’m not very good at talking about music. That’s because I really don’t know much. I do love music…I’m just not one of those people who can wax eloquent on the smoothness of the bass rifts (is that even something?). What I can talk about is lyrics and why I love them. So, in honor of today being my actual “due date” (come on, no one ever has their baby on their due date), I’m going to... Read more
I love Ash Wednesday because it reminds me that I will die. I am a product of a culture obsessed with youth and beauty. We honor the young and ignore the elderly. We worship comfort at the expense of wisdom. We refuse to consider that each of us are constantly moving closer to our own deaths. And we convince ourselves that we have control over the reality of living and dying…until the cancer, the terror, the tragedy. I don’t know... Read more
I love our church and our community in San Francisco. I just looked online to find the names of friends (and some folks I don’t even know) who have signed up to bring us new-baby dinners. It’s a beautiful thing to be cared for. Last week, my Mom’s Group threw a friend and me a baby shower. They gave me a lovely gift card to Amazon. And cookies. And cheese! I’m not swollen! Not even my feet! Thankful, thankful… I... Read more
Micha Boyett
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